How Much Do Tutors Charge? The Typical Prices Explained
Whether it’s you or a child that needs a little extra academic help to get through the school year, tutors are essential to helping folks receive the one-on-one instruction that they need to absorb difficult concepts. A tutor can be the difference between building a solid academic foundation with well-understood concepts and failing a class.
One of the things that make people shy away from hiring a tutor though, is their perception of tutor prices. However, the answer to the question of how much do tutors charge may not be nearly as exorbitant as you might believe.
In this article, we’ll give you some info on the average tutor cost so that you can better plan for the education of yourself or your child. We’ll also provide lots of helpful advice on how you can maximize the bang for your buck and get as much help from your tutor as possible.
How Much Do Tutors Charge?
The average price that a tutor will charge will depend on a couple of different factors. Firstly, you’ll have to look at the complexity of the subject being taught. Second-grade English, for instance, is a far easier subject to teach than advanced multivariable calculus.
Secondly, you’ll also have to take a look at the tutor’s experience. If you’re hiring a high school kid that’s working in the evenings to make a little extra cash, you won’t pay anywhere near the same amount as an experienced tutor that’s been doing this for decades.
On the whole, research shows that you’ll be paying approximately $30-$50 for a tutor. The lower end of this price is what will be charged by less experienced tutors for not-very-complicated subjects, while the high end includes the tutor pay rates reserved for those with experience in complex material.
Another important cost of a tutor that you may not see upfront is the cost of any necessary supplies. Depending on what tutor you hire for what class, you may also have to foot the bill for any textbooks or practice material to help you learn. Be sure to ask about what other external costs you can expect to incur whenever you are hiring a tutor.
Prepare for Your Tutor
The first thing that you need to do in order to get the most bang for your buck from a tutoring session is to take some time to prepare ahead of time.
For instance, let’s say that you are hiring an online math tutor for your child. The topic that your child needs help with is fractions. Make sure that the child has already spent a significant amount of time trying to learn the concept using their existing material.
This will help the child to identify their own knowledge gaps and figure out exactly what it is that they do not understand. Then, when it’s time to actually have the tutoring session, they are going to be able to ask smart questions that will help the tutor zero in on exactly where the knowledge gap is.
Do What Your Tutor Says
Once you have prepared adequately for your tutoring session and had it, it’s time for your child to implement the concepts that they just recently learned. If they do not practice what they have just learned, then they are likely to forget it very soon.
To avoid this unfortunate situation, your tutor will likely prescribe a set of practice problems or questions to help your child practice their newfound skills. It is absolutely vital that your child does this. If not, then you may as well have wasted your money.
If the tutoring sessions are regular sessions, then the tutor will expect the work to have been completed by the next session. The tutor will prepare lesson plans accordingly. If your child has not practiced adequately by the time the next session rolls around, then the lesson plan won’t be nearly as applicable to them and will lose quite a lot of effectiveness.
How to Become a Tutor
If you’re on the other side of the conversation and are interested in practicing your teaching skills, then you may be interested in how to become a tutor. After all, the pay rates for tutors are significant — so it makes sense that you would want to cut a slice of the pie for yourself!
The first step in becoming a tutor is attaining mastery in a particular subject. You can’t teach on subject material that you yourself are not knowledgeable about.
And don’t assume that just because you took a class several years ago that you’ll still be a good teacher. You’re going to have to review the class and that material to re-solidify the concepts if you really want to be able to impart value to your students.
The next step is to figure out where you can start exercising your tutoring skills. There are two ways to get clients.
The first way is to sell your tutoring services privately. You could start with families in your neighborhood. Ask your friends and neighbors if they or their children need tutoring services. For those who are parents with kids struggling academically, they may only be too glad that you’ve asked.
But another option is to use an online tutoring platform. Such platforms abound today because of the ease in which you can connect tutors with students all across the world over video conferencing.
The online platforms also afford new tutors access to a plethora of students who need help. Once you have a few sessions under your belt and receive good ratings, you’ll be able to get a steady stream of new clients.
Know Tutor Prices
There you have it. After reading this article, you should know the answers to the questions of how much do tutors charge, how to use a tutor effectively, and how to become a tutor yourself!
For more general lifestyle advice, take some time to check out the rest of the articles available to read on the website before you leave!
